Character towing
Character Towing is the term used to describe the process of power leveling a character through the use of a second account and a character that is of a much higher in level than the subject character. Character towing, executed properly can net the subject character large amounts of experience, gold, and items within the shortest amount of time. Some older MMO players may refer to this process as "power leveling my alt with my (friend's) main," but it means the same thing as towing. The goal of this guide is to help you level a character, through the use of a second high-level character that you already own, thus leveraging the time investment in your main character to create a second high-level character in the minimum time possible. This technique is feasible for either Alliance or Horde characters of any Class. Character Towing is not considered an exploit by the Terms of Service, provided that you have no financial incentives such as selling the character afterward. Getting Started Towing Experience Formula * The experience formula for character towing is unknown at this time, but there is a point that the level difference between the towing character and towee character results in the towee only receiving 1 experience point per kill as well as an upper cap to the mob level difference that nets no additional experience. Towing Character Level, Towee Character Level vs. Mob Level Towing Character Level * The ideal level difference between the Towing character should be enough that the mobs being killed are of a trivial (gray) level difference. This ensures that the Towing character is absorbing the least amount of available experience from the Towed character. Towed Character Level vs. Mob Level * The ideal level of mobs to tow a lower level character through would be no higher in level compared to the towee than the amount of levels below that character that they could get experience from on by killing on their own their own. The reason for this is that if you kill characters above this threshold you are slowing down the towing process, because these higher level mobs will take longer to kill while only granting a trivial amount of additional experience if any over what killing the recommended level difference mobs would net. Minimum Level of Towee *The minimum level for effective character towing is unknown at this time. Further research needs to be completed in this arena to come to a conclusive result. Please submit any information to this article for inclusion. Methods of Character Towing Overworld Grinding * This practice involves putting the towed character on auto-follow on the main character and killing in the Overworld (non-instance) areas.. Limitations of Overworld Grinding * Competition - It is highly unlike on older realms that you will be able to locate an area where there are no other players competing with you for spawns. * Separation - Mobs in the Overworld have a set patrolling area, but are generally much further spaced apart than mobs in instances. * Experience Yield - The amount of experience that is earned by killing Overworld mobs is not sufficient to justify this technique over the use of instance towing. What you gain in safety for your towed character you lose in experience gained per hour. Instance Towing * This is the same as Overworld towing, but is strictly carried out via the use of dungeon instanced content in the game world. Instance towing is enjoyable and provides many additional benefits when compared to Overworld towing, while eliminating its limitations. Additional Benefits of Instance Towing * Experience Bonus - Killing mobs in a dungeon has an associated experience bonus when compared to killing the same level of elite mob in the Overworld. This over time nets a considerable amount of experience in excess of what could be obtained in the same about of time killing overworld mobs. * Coin Drops - Generally speaking, the amount of coin dropped by an elite mob far exceeds the amount dropped by a non-elites of the same level. This fact can offset the supply expenses associated with character towing such as equipment repairs and potions for use by the towing character. * Twinking Gear - Since dungeons are the place that you acquire the best items in the game, it would make sense to spend as much time in the instances as possible to maximize the quality of the towed characters gear. Where this fact really shines is in that since we are always clearing a dungeon that has mobs of at least 1 to 6 levels over that of the towed character, it is quite easy to supply your towed characters gear requirements. We achieve this by having him loot all blue off of the bosses and banking any items that would eventually be beneficial to that character. It is typical in this practice to be able to keep your character geared out in superior quality greens and blues during the entire leveling process. * Loot Surplus - Every dungeon provides loot of a superior quality when compared to drops of the same level from non-elite / non-boss mobs. This higher quality gear sells for a larger amount of coin when it is sold to a vendor. So any item drops off of bosses that do not fit with the character that is leveling that are flagged as "Binds on Pickup" can be sold to a vender to cover the accelerated rate of training costs associated with character towing. "Binds on Equip" items should be sold at the Auction House to maximize profit, especially those that are blue or better in quality Best Towing Classes The following class types are the better classes to use in the towing process as the lead character. AoE Classes Any character class that is capable of hitting multiple mobs at one time will produce the fastest results while towing as they can gather mobs and kill them at a rate that far exceeds other classes. The best towers can clear an entire lower-level instance in 1-2 pulls. As the level of the instance ascends, however, some AoE classes (especially the cloth-wearing ones) will have a harder time killing large groups of mobs before they get themselves killed. Further, with too many mobs attacking caster classes, casting even fast spells can take a very large amount of time without a shield of some kind (like Power Word: Shield). * Paladin - With AoE and reactive damage from an AoE grinding spec, Paladins are probably the most popular towing class. A paladin can gather up large groups of mobs and use Seal/Judgement of Wisdom with Consecrate to maintain mana while AoEing large groups of mobs. ** Consecrate ** Blessing of Sanctuary ** Retribution Aura ** Holy Shield ** Holy Light ** Flash of Light ** Divine Protection * Druid - While not a traditional AoE class, the druid posses a small AoE in the form of Swipe. Depending on the spec, a druid can make an excellent tower. Specifically, a well-geared Feral-spec druid has the benefit of using Improved Leader of the Pack to continuously keep healing themselves while towing lower level characters through instances. A decently well-geared level 70 feral druid in bear form can pull large numbers of mobs and maintain nearly full health and rage simply through swiping continuously. Depending on the druid's gear, this can be done in instances up to Zul'Farrak, Maraudon, or even higher. In these higher level instances, if the druid has enough attack power, they can potentially outpace a Protection-spec Paladin while towing while avoiding the need for mana or normal healing. * Priest - With Holy Nova a priest can heal and AOE even at the same time (though since it causes no threat, this will not keep mobs off the towee). ** Binding Heal ** Flash Heal ** Greater Heal ** Heal ** Holy Nova ** Mind Blast ** Power Word: Shield ** Psychic Scream ** Renew * Mage - Mages have many AOE spells that lend to fast towing of lower level characters. ** Arcane Explosion ** Blast Wave ** Blizzard ** Cone of Cold ** Dragon's Breath ** Flamestrike ** Frost Nova * Warlock - Warlocks have pets to hold Aggro contribute to damage, as well as a number of AOE damage spells ** Hellfire ** Inferno ** Rain of Fire ** Seed of Corruption ** Shadowfury * Shaman - Shaman have several spells and totems for dealing with more than one mob at a time ** Chain Lightning ** Fire Nova Totem ** Magma Totem ** Searing Totem DPS Classes DPS classes are the next best choice to an AoE class for character towing as their high damage output can outpace a bad pull when fighting lower-level mobs. * Hunter - The ability to use a pet to hold aggro, utilize traps (CC and AoE) and feign death can help greatly when towing a lower level character. Hunters can use several forms of "minor" AoE to speed up the towing process. ** Explosive Trap ** Snake Trap ** Multi-shot ** Volley * Rogue - Rogues possess the ability to rapidly kill or stun mobs in the game. Their abilities lend themselves well to towing a character up to a high level. General Tips * Level Range - Care should be taken to avoid using mobs that are more than 5 to 6 levels over the towed character, as this will only slow down the leveling process by requiring more time to kill them, while netting no additional experience. * Supplies - Killing large numbers of enemies quickly will require more resources and consumables than one would expect to consume in the same amount of time in high level solo play. The reason for this is that you will be moving as quickly as possible and want to minimize your downtime to maximize the experience returned to the towed character. * Emergency Supplies - If the towing character is a cloth wearing class, it is advised to take along the highest level of healing potion that you can use. The reason for this is that fighting lower level mobs in droves would be more potentially draining to your health reserves than your mana pool. * Partying - Contrary to popular opinion, adding additional party members at a similar level to the towee will give a certain amount of bonus experience on each kill. This is often easy to achieve when the instance run is advertised as being done by a higher level, and/or free loot in the process. Helpful Macros Essential * A Follow Towing Character Macro ** /follow * A Mount and Follow Macro ** /cast ** /stopcasting ** /follow Suggested * An assist and attack macro - While the damage contributed to the fight might seem insignificant, over the long run it will save you time to have the towed character attack the mobs that you are fighting. ** /assist ** /attack * Bandage self / Drink healing potion macro - This macro is used to make the lower level character target themselves and bandage / drink a potion ** /target ** /cast Note: It is possible to make a macro that will bandage if the towed character does not have aggro, or drink a healing potion if he does. Conditional selection macro in process. Plusses * A macro to cast any beneficial buffs that the lower level character has that might benefit the higher level character during the towing process (IE: Battle Shout, HP Buffs, AP Buffs) ** /target ** /cast Bloodrage ** /cast Battle Shout Best Places to Tow by Level Coming Soon Experience per Kill Observed Towing The following table shows the approximate amount of experience that the towed character will receive if a mob was killed of the level difference shown. Please note that the level differences are always the amount that the mob's level exceeds that of the towed character. Any help filling in these numbers is greatly appreciated and may lead to the discovery of the exp formula for towing. Tips when trying to record data for the chart: It should be noted that Retribution Aura from a Paladin seems to "steal" experience from a kill, i.e., if you are being towed by a Paladin using Retribution Aura, and the aura ends up dealing damage equal to 20% of a mob's total health before the mob dies, you will only get 80% of the experience from the kill. Other damage shields such as a Shaman's Lightning Shield have the same effect. Also be wary of "entrance" mobs, or mobs that are encountered early in the instance and may yield slightly less experience than the mobs who occupy the main portion of the dungeon. An example of this would be the Scarlet mobs in Scarlet Monastery: Graveyard, who yield slightly less experience than the same level Undead elites found later in the instance. Also, Scarlet Monastery: Armory has the "Training Grounds" first room, where mobs yield slightly less experience than same-level mobs found throughout the rest of the Armory. External links Category:Guides